Sydney waterfront restaurants where the food and views are equally wonderful
SOURCE:Sydney Morning Herald|BY:Sarah Norris , Good Food Guide reviewers
From fancy two-hatted restaurants to a cottage in a scenic national park and Sydney’s original surf bistro, here are 12 spots from the Good Food Guide.
From fancy two-hatted restaurants to a cottage in a scenic national park and Sydney’s original surf bistro, here are 12 spots from the Good Food Guide.
Sarah Norris and Good Food Guide reviewers
December 28, 2025
Is there a better way to while away an afternoon than at a restaurant with great food and a view that makes everything else melt away? We don’t think so. Sydney has some stellar spots, which is why we’ve trawled the 2026 Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide to bring you this list.
We’ve got institutions, like Bondi’s Sean’s, as well as recently opened eateries like Manly’s Felons Seafood, as well as Italian beauties like Sardinian restaurant Pilu at Freshwater. Pilu at Freshwater’s owners recently opened a new venue overlooking Circular Quay, Flaminia, which you should also have on your radar. British celebrity chef Rick Stein has just opened his first Sydney restaurant, Rick Stein at Coogee Beach. (Good Food will publish reviews of these two very soon.)
Of course there are many more dining inspirations to be found on the Good Food app. The app is free for premium subscribers to the Herald and also available as a standalone subscription. You can download the Good Food app here.
Some diners arrive at Cottage Point Inn via seaplane. Brook Mitchell
Bathers’ Pavilion, Balmoral
An upmarket experience led by a chef at the top of his game.
There are enduring pleasures to a table at two-hat Bathers’ Pavilion. The blue-and-white striped linen. The boathouse-chic interiors. The sun catching the waves lapping the sand at Balmoral. A broad, deep wine list with affection for name locals and Europeans. In settings like these, the food can fade to the background, but it’s testament to chef Aaron Ward’s nous that it sits, proudly, front and centre. Snacks, including a raw tuna tartlet humming with fermented chilli, come out of the gate hard. Desserts, such as a triple-stacked mille-feuille piped with pistachio, Meyer lemon and salted vanilla creams and curds, crackle with energy. Waiters, meanwhile, are as across the menu as they are the cheese trolley. There’s never been a better time to dive in.
Good to know: The weekend menu is prix fixe, with snacks and sides as add-ons, but the bistro, kiosk and upstairs Thai restaurant mean the options are endless.
There’s an easy sense of hospitality at this 21-year-old seaside restaurant, in an unassuming cottage practically on the sand. Giovanni Pilu’s Sardinian roots show in the hand-made culurgiones – small, pillowy dumplings oozing with potato in a roast chicken jus, flecked with crisp chicken skin.“The chef calls these little parcels of love,” says the waiter. The refreshed menu jumps with good ideas, such as crudo of coral trout bright with mandarin, and a snow-white serving of Aquna Murray cod with fennel and fruity black olives. Or stay Sardinian with the signature roast suckling pig, the milky, sweet meat teamed with sharp red cabbage and sheep’s yoghurt. Then dip a spoon into miraculously smooth goat’s-milk gelato, drizzled with espresso and Sardinia’s mirto liqueur, and suddenly, rather than Freshwater, it’s the Costa Smeralda out there.
Must-order dish: Suckling pig with agrodolce fennel.
Pilu, overlooking the beautiful Freshwater beach. Kittie Gould
Sean’s, Bondi
Sydney’s original surf bistro and soulful stalwart of long lunching.
It’s all about nurturing at this one-hat Bondi mainstay. The menu is short and hyper-seasonal. The service is lively, and the art-filled room (is that an actual Guy Buffet in the corner?) is perennially filled with the clatter of happy diners. Your meal might start with Port Lincoln calamari, crisp-fried in its own ink, to be dipped in a piquant chilli aioli. Then include the signature roast chicken – as famous as the sand across the road – Sommerlad chicken quartered and roasted until golden, accompanied by bread sauce and roast potato, turnip tops and cabbage. On another day you might settle in with pan-fried gnocchi, mushrooms and shavings of sheep’s milk cheese. Sean Moran’s cooking remains food for the soul.
Good to know: Forever one of the best places to BYO wine.
The gorgeous dining room of Bondi’s Sean’s.Edwina Pickles
Catalina, Rose Bay
Sunny seafood with signature harbour sightlines at an eastern suburbs institution.
Sydney has surprisingly few restaurants right on the water, let alone ones that have been delivering for more than 30 years. Just smashing Sydney rocks with a glass of champagne would be a fine way to spend an afternoon at one-hat Catalina, but there’s the fixed-price a la carte three-course menu, and more ways to tailor your experience with WA marron, caviar or fish tacos.
Plenty of the Rose Bay crowd dip in, and the likes of snapper dumplings in a puddle of chilli sauce feel very now. Go classic, and pert prawn and cuttlefish ravioli comes with an excitingly rich shellfish bisque. The wine list balances new wave and classic better than you might expect, and with an eye for value too, especially considering that view.
Good to know: Pack your sunglasses. But then, if you don’t, they’ll loan you some.
Lyne Park, New South Head Road, Rose Bay. catalinarosebay.com.au
You’re practically on the water at Rose Bay’s Catalina.Jennifer Soo
Ammos, Brighton-Le-Sands
Heroic Hellenic dining by the bay.
Squint at this oasis inside Brighton Beach’s Novotel and it’s not too big a stretch to imagine you’ve just stepped off a plane in Santorini. It might be the resort-style terrace that catches the eye, the raw bar laden with lobsters and caviar, or more likely it’s those sweeping bay views, flooding both daylight and luxe island vibes into the expansive dining room. Or perhaps it’s the checklist of Greek standbys being ferried out from the wood-fired kitchen, headed by veteran Peter Conistis: saganaki and spanakopita, traditional cheeses like rich, salty kalathaki limnou, taramasalata, tzatziki and charred pita. There’s lamb four ways, too, including slow-roasted shoulder and grilled cutlets. Finish with another glass of assyrtiko by the pool.
Best for: Pretending you’re on an Aegean island holiday.
Ammos is across the road from Brighton-Le-Sands. James Brickwood
LuMi, Pyrmont
Immensely creative tasting menu inside a stylish glass box.
Eaten much capsicum and ponzu jelly lately? Guests at this hotbed of creation sure have. The beetroot-coloured jelly crowns a kombu tart layered with scampi tartare and whipped gochujang cream: a complex and surprising opening, and indicative of the innovative Japanese-Italian food mash-ups two-hatted LuMirolls out. Yes, there are waterside restaurants with grander views, but the food here is some of Sydney’s best, and deserves a spot on this list. Dishes swing from a zippy red snapper crudo dressed with tomato water and wasabi oil to an earthy four-mushroom agnolotti that reminds you chef Federico Zanellato’s food is rooted in tradition.
Good to know: Request a table overlooking the kitchen to get a ringside seat.
With a stunning location and a quarter-century history of serving fine Italian food to a who’s who of Sydney business, fashion and media, it would be easy for Ottoto take its eye off the ball. But this one-hat harbourside institution, rocking a wide-ranging wine list and a menu of Italian classics from chef Richard Ptacnik, remains one of the best lunch spots in town. Gnocco fritto with house-made bresaola, honey, vin santo and gorgonzola is a brilliant opener: crisp, sweet, fatty, acidic and rich in all the right places. Pasta runs from rustic all the way up to a spin on Venetian spaghetti all’Aragosta sauced with cherry tomatoes, lobster and brandy. The paparazzi of old may have moved on, but gazing over the water with a crisp Alto Adige pinot grigio in hand, Otto still feels like the place to be.
Best for: A reminder of how to get waterside dining right.
This sparkling Italian fine diner perched on a marina pier is clearly built for summer celebrations, with tinkling yacht masts in attendance. Two-hatted Ormeggiocould simply present itself as an Amalfi cliche of yellow-striped awnings, neon spritzes and pasta standards, and allow its gleaming water views to do the rest. But nothing about Alessandro and Anna Pavoni’s flagship restaurant is predictable. A luxuriously textured baccala entree is served tableside with a detailed northern Italian origin story and a surprise dusting of cocoa, Sichuan pepper and juniper. Delicate bottoni, or “little buttons”, of carbonara-filled pasta are studded with tiny gems of caviar, swordfish pancetta and glossy drops of lemon-infused oil so they sparkle like Sicilian cassata. The exceptional wine list and service make it all the more special.
Good to know: You can buy a yacht while dining if the mood takes you.
Ormeggio at The Spit offers a taste of the Italian Riviera.
Cottage Point Inn, Cottage Point
Upscale Aussie dining within a scenic national park.
Cottage Point sure is a beautiful place. Thick bush dramatically slopes into Cowan Creek as boats meander past, and the odd seaplane ushers diners from the CBD some 35 kilometres away. Unless you live near Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park, it’s a journey to get here, but the setting’s glorious, and new chef John Lyons is pushing the menu in a drive-worthy direction. It’s six or eight courses, and although he follows a well-trodden, produce-driven path – Cowra lamb, Humpty Doo barramundi, Monte Nardi cheese are all name checked – it doesn’t feel worn. Fremantle octopus flavoured with Davidson’s plum is thrilling, while Korean and Japanese flavours and techniques add another dimension: think ramen broth with lamb shank, soft-shell crab “schnitzel” with curry sauce, and scallops in the shell with perky poorman’s-orange dashi. Staffing can be tough in such an isolated spot, but service is efficient and friendly. We’re excited to see Lyons build on this solid start.
Good to know: There’s a great far-reaching wine list with a decent selection of half bottles, which works well if you’ve driven to get here.
The secluded Cottage Point Inn is on the edge of Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park.Jennifer Soo.
Bobby’s, Cronulla
Beachy-keen dining with a passing parade of buff bodies.
Summer lovin’ doesn’t get much better than this. Perched on the edge of South Cronulla Beach, Bobby’s screams “lunchtime, chilled beer and anchovies on toast”. Or a glass of rosé and a barra burger. Or a spritz and grapefruit-laced kingfish ceviche. However you play it, angle for a spot with a view of the boardwalk and watch the world go by. Wagyu carpaccio is dotted with anchovy cream, reminiscent of an excellent vitello tonnato. Big, ripe tomatoes are aromatic with vinegar sharpness and balanced with great olive oil, crisp croutons, goat’s curd and basil. Whole snapper is agreeably priced and nicely cooked, lifted by a burnt citrus butter and caperberries.
Good to know: Groups are well catered for with a generous set menu.
The unbeatable view at Bobby’s, Cronulla.Edwina Pickles
Icebergs, Bondi
Fine-dining Italian overlooking a world-famous beach.
Icebergs is as quintessentially Sydney as the Coathanger, high property prices and sandy feet in summer. Outside is typically a scrum of sunbakers and activewear wearers. Inside a calm oasis, despite recent controversy around former director Maurice Terzini, who has now left the business. Sit back in the peaceful, blush-pink booths and soak up that absurdly stupendous ocean view – better still alongside light and loose koshihikari rice risotto with rich XO sauce and sparkly scallop crudo, or gnarly charcoal-grey squid-ink calamari with aged balsamic and aioli. Spaghetti vongole with Goolwa pipis and salty dried fish roe is classic seaside fare, while buttery wagyu bavette and sweet stone fruit-glazed short-rib in vermouth sauce will soothe the soul of any landlubber.
Good to know: Arrive early for a drink on the balcony at the bar.
Classic Italian made glitzy in swish harbourside surrounds.
Amore a’mare equals Italian love by the sea, and this place sure knows how to sell it. Particularly when it comes with shiny harbour views – sparkling by day, shimmering by night. Add swish trolley service, a flashily furnished dining room, personalised share-plate portioning, I-want-it-all presentation, and the love grows. Following chef-restaurateur Alessandro Pavoni’s approach to archetypal Italian, stick your fork into a rich-tomato seafood risotto, properly fluffy gnocchi with wagyu ragu, a thick cotoletta milanese (sliced on-the-bone schnitty with real sun-dried tomatoes) and a just-right rocket, parmesan and balsamic salad side. All done immaculately. Exec chef Giuseppe Fuzio, from Puglia, adds a homeland hand to seafood, things from the wood-grill and genuine vegetable freshness. Wine service is a story in itself, and pistachio gelato with mandarin-y extra virgin slides in ever so nicely. Amore a’mare indeed.
Good to know: There’s a classy kids’ menu for family visits.